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A Love Affair With the Sea
by Trevor Norton
Book Reviewed by:Eminent marine biologist Trevor Norton takes us around the oceans of the world in this fascinating semi autobiograpical lovefest with the oceans.
On a hot summer's day there could be no quicker transport to the seaside than Trevor Norton's cool and entrancing account of a lifetime's adventures under or near the water. Norton's eye for the bizarre, amazing, and beautiful inhabitants of the oceans, and the eccentric characters who work, study, and live by the shore make his book a wonder-filled experience. An intrepid diver and distinguished scientist, Norton's writing is self-deprecating, very funny, and full of wry and intriguing anecdotes; he is an unfailingly delightful companion. Whether his setting is a bed of jewel anemones in an Irish lough, a giant California cavern shared with sea lions, a mildewed research station, or the glittering coral gardens of Sharm el Sheikh, his captivating prose always finds the mark. Sometimes following the shoreline with earlier beachcombers such as Darwin, John Steinbeck, and George Orwell, Norton also takes the reader to depths where the shapes of creatures living without sunlight defy imagination. Admirers of the gorgeous detail of Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us will revel in Norton's writing, his observations, and irreverent wit.
Seeing the Light
St Mary’s Island, Northumberland
We lived on the second floor and viewed the sea
through windows misted with salt. At night the beams from the lighthouse swept
my ceiling.
I was seven when we had the worst winter for a century. The
seaweed went stiff with rime and even the tide pools froze. A Greek freighter
was driven ashore to perch upright and drip rust on to the rocks.
Snow drifted in an arc right up to my bedroom window and, if
I’d had the courage, I could have slid down to the ground. Dad dug a tunnel out
from the front door and carried me to school on his shoulders through a deep
trench, and only I could see the surface of the sun-dazzled snow. For a few
weeks we lived at the North Pole and I expected Father Christmas to sleigh round
the corner at any moment. Then the myth melted, the streets turned to soiled
slush and Santa, I suppose, was out of the question.
The following summer we walked to Curry’s Point at the
...
Despite Norton's wit and encyclopedic knowledge, after a while the rambling takes on the feel of a "brain dump" .... The saving grace is Norton's deep and profound love of the sea which shines clearly on every page, which is enough to amply redeem Underwater To Get Out of The Rain from its arguable faults...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Lawrence Millman, author of Last Places
A delicious bouillabaisse of memoir, wit, and natural history! I would say more, but I can't tear myself away from this utterly beguiling book."Trevor Norton is Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Liverpool. He is the author of a number of popular natural history books, including Reflections on a Summer Sea and Stars Beneath The Sea. His writing has been described as "by turns funny and gripping" by the Guardian and a "racing current of excitement, adventure and discovery" by New Scientist.
If you liked Underwater to Get Out of the Rain, try these:
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A book to sweep you away from the shore, into a wild world of water, whale, storm, and starlight— to experience what it's like to sail for weeks at a time with life set to a new rhythm.
by Helen Scales
Published 2022
"The oceans have always shaped human lives," writes marine biologist Helen Scales in her vibrant new book The Brilliant Abyss, but the surface and the very edges have so far mattered the most. "However, one way or another, the future ocean is the deep ocean."
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